FOCUS On Burnside - the news hub

The Youth Art Intensive Workshop was held over the weekend at the Glenunga Hub. Eight students created great designs and painted them onto skateboards. The workshop was led by local artist Wendy Dixon-Whiley. This is the third year these workshops have been held. It is important for Council to provide activities for youth to create engagement outside of school activities. Wendy’s bold and simplistic style makes it easy to teach and it was her idea to use skateboards. Council’s 12 month trial of a portable pump track has shown the popularity of skate boards.

The boards will be displayed in the Cloister space for a month, starting on Tuesday 6 April.

L – R: Hannah, 13, Glenunga International High School; Caitlin, 13, Pembroke; Alex, 13, Mary Mackillop College; Ella, 14, Saint Peters Girls; Phoebe, 13, Pembroke School; Indiara, 14, Mount Barker Waldorf; Manoli, 15, Mount Barker Waldorf; Sapphire, 13, St Peter's Girls.

The City of Burnside (in a joint application with Campbelltown City Council) has received $5.75 million for the Magill Village Road Redevelopment.

The grant is part of the State Government's $290 million jobs stimulus program targeting community infrastructure across the state.

The projects – part of a $4bn stimulus program aimed at kick starting the economy after the pandemic-induced recession – are designed to be completed within two years.

These two Moreton Bay Fig trees on Greenhill Road in Hazelwood Park were planted circa 1867 when ‘Linden’ the estate of Alexander Hay was established. The trees marked the entrance to the property.

Alexander Hay (1820-1898) was a merchant, pastoralist and politician. He purchased land in Section 297 (now Linden Park) and built a mansion named Linden in 1867. This property was located on today’s Moore Avenue and was demolished in 1967. The Moreton Bay Fig trees and gatehouse (Linden Lodge) on Greenhill Road are reminders of the luxurious estate.

Pictured are the two Moreton Bay Fig trees today and the Linden estate circa 1900.

Tusmore Park was alive with the sounds, sights and smells of Bollywood as more than 1,500 people passed through on Sunday 21 March for the annual Indian Mela.

A 'Mela' is a Sanskrit word meaning 'gathering' or 'fair' and is a showcase of culture, art or skill.

With four food vendors, 11 market stalls, three children’s activities, and four performances, there was something for everyone.

Active Education hosted 1.5 hours of children games and estimated a minimum of 200 children participating over that time.

Children were excited about the free henna tattooing and some adults commented that the children’s activities were better than jumping castles or fair rides.

The most popular performance was Bollywood dancing by Euphorigo Dance and Fitness Studio, with an estimated audience of 500.

Event sponsor ‘Drunkn Monkey’ (Indian food vendor) was very happy and looking forward to the next Indian event to partner with City of Burnside.

One child stated that the event was better than his birthday!

Leading a busy life after your career can be quite the challenge, but finding things to fill your life with and enrich your days does not have have to be a chore. Dianne and Bruce Whittaker have enjoyed the first few years of retirement by being almost as busy as they were at work. Dianne worked in early childhood care for over 30 years, 15 in Darwin, before retiring to Adelaide.

“Our family lives here so we moved back to be closer to them after leaving work,” Dianne said. “They were renovating their house so they stayed with us while the work on their house was completed. “Our neighbour at the time found out that Bruce could drive a bus so they suggested he volunteer with the council.

“He’s been driving ever since, he takes the ladies in aged care homes shopping on Wednesdays and Thursdays.”

Dianne also volunteered on the Burnside bus, helping people get on and off. “There were about 16 people on the bus and we would sit and chat with them en-route to wherever we were going,” she said. “They were all such beautiful people with great stories to tell – they all appreciated getting to be with someone a bit younger too.”

Dianne also volunteers as a shelver at Burnside Library and attends the University of the Third Age (U3A) – a volunteer-run school for retirees. “You meet all sorts of people at the library – it’s a great place to learn new things,” she said. “I am always trying to learn something new and in 2015 a friend of mine told me about U3A – I go once a week and learn about Australian history and then run a Craft, Coffee and Chat course in the afternoon.”

Dianne emphasised that keeping busy and gradually moving from one’s working life to retirement was the key to making a successful transition. “A friend of mine who is a teacher was thinking about retirement and said she might cut back from five days a week to three – I thought it was a great idea,” Dianne said.

“It’s not a good idea to go from working full time to absolutely nothing – you don’t want to end up as one of those people who stares at the wall until they drop off. Bruce and I keep very busy. It feels like we both still work full time buts it’s all enjoyable work.

“We keep really active and eat healthy too – it’s not a good idea to just sit in front of the TV and eat scones and cream all day at any age. We have family that live in Canada as well so we take every chance we can to visit them. You never know what opportunities await you when you finish working.”

Courtesy of Adelaide East Herald

The Arbor Day Foundation again recognises the City of Burnside as a Tree City of the World

The City of Burnside receives Tree Cities of the World designation for a second year

The Arbor Day Foundation has named the City of Burnside a Tree City of the World. Tree Cities of the World is a programme founded by The Arbor Day Foundation and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to recognise cities around the globe that have committed to growing and maintaining their urban forest. Through this recognition, the City of Burnside will join a network of like-minded cities who recognise the importance of trees in building healthy, resilient and happy cities.

“We applaud all of the cities that have earned Tree Cities of the World designation,” said Dan Lambe, president, Arbor Day Foundation. “They are leaders when it comes to planning and managing their urban forests. Many of the cities being recognised have gone above and beyond to use trees as part of their green infrastructure. This distinction is a celebration of their creativity and sustainability in creating healthier urban spaces.”

Burnside has earned recognition in the Foundation's second year of the programme. To join Tree Cities of the World, Council has pledged their commitment by meeting five programme standards that show their dedication and determination towards planting and conserving trees for a greener future.

Burnside Mayor Anne Monceaux said this outcome was an acknowledgement of Council’s efforts towards climate change mitigation and environmental management and associated initiatives, following the climate emergency declared in 2019.

“This dedication is a testament to the commitment Council has made to mitigate climate change,” Mayor Monceaux said. “We will continue to put our environment first in our decision making as we work toward a carbon neutral Burnside in 2030.”

“We have introduced LED street lighting to our City, electric fleet cars, biodiversity programs, water sensitive design in our infrastructure programs, waste and sustainability education and campaigns and the urban forest interactive initiative.”

“As Mayor, I am proud to receive this award on behalf of the dedicated staff, the committed councillors and the caring Burnside community. We must care for our trees!”

When a city joins Tree Cities of the World, they show their willingness to be a sustainability and urban forestry leader. Planting trees in a metropolitan area comes with a myriad of benefits beyond the recognition of this programme. Increasing the number of trees in a community can help reduce costs for energy, stormwater management, and erosion control. The programme provides a network of like-minded city leaders in urban forestry to celebrate and share best practices to cultivate greenery in the community.

Tree Cities of the World aims to create more green spaces in urban areas by recognising the cities that do it well. Planting more trees is the quickest and easiest way to improve a city's tree canopy and invest in a brighter future.

More information is available at TreeCitiesoftheWorld.org.

Contact:

Jenny Barrett 0408 717 025.

Issued by:

Chris Cowley

Chief Executive Officer

City of Burnside

About the Arbor Day Foundation

Founded in 1972, the Arbor Day Foundation has grown to become the largest non profit membership organisation dedicated to planting trees, with more than one million members, supporters and valued partners. Since 1972, more than 350 million Arbor Day Foundation trees have been planted in neighbourhoods, communities, cities and forests throughout the world. Our vision is to help others understand and use trees as a solution to many of the global issues we face today, including air quality, water quality, climate change, deforestation, poverty and hunger.

As one of the world's largest operating conservation foundations, the Arbor Day Foundation, through its members, partners and programs, educates and engages stakeholders and communities across the globe to involve themselves in its mission of planting, nurturing and celebrating trees. More information is available at arborday.org.

Our CEO Chris Cowley has an update for the Burnside community on the Council’s deliberations at the recent meeting on OTR’s application for Kensington Park.

What do you think of the City of Burnside’s float entry for the 1962 Adelaide Festival of the Arts parade?

The inaugural Adelaide Festival of the Arts took place in March 1960. The Festival was held bi-annually and included hundreds of events celebrating arts, music and culture over three weeks. One of the highlights was the opening parade on King William Street, Adelaide. Many Councils entered the procession.

The @Adelaide Festival is now held annually, and we are currently in the midst of its 61^st year! Hope you are enjoying some of its fantastic events.

Almost 30 children from Kensington Gardens Preschool visited the Kensington Gardens Reserve Project site to learn about Kaurna culture and the cultural importance of the site. It was also an opportunity for the children to see the construction up close.

The mainly 4-year-old students have been following the progress of the project for some time. Director Catherine Honeychurch says the school has always been known as ‘The Kindy in the Park’ (Ngartuwirra Wirrangka).

“We are very excited about this group of children, they only started in January and we use the park as part of our Reconciliation Action Plan.” The children keep a journal of construction activities and work they see happening on the project.

Council is working closely with Kaurna Traditional Owners on the Kensington Gardens Reserve Project to recognise and respect the importance of this site to First Nations People.

Kaurna Elder Aunty Lynette Crocker welcomed the children as a representative of the Kaurna people. “I welcome you to our City. I greet you in the spirit of humanity,” she said. “For me and my ancestors before me this is a place of reflection. This is a very important area of Burnside in the history of South Australia, Adelaide and the Kaurna people. “

Aunty Lynette asked the children to look after and watch the area. “I want you to understand and acknowledge how you feel about the city, learn about nature and the living things in your neighbourhood,” she said.

Kaurna representative Trevor ‘Boodgie’ Wanganeen showed the children some artefacts made with materials similar to those recovered from the site and explained how his ancestors made their own weapons and utensils “long before white man came”.

Background:

The KGR Project will deliver significant environmental and recreational benefits to the reserve and the surrounding creek ecosystem.

The overall project will include an extensive revegetation program with more than 40 trees, 1,450 shrubs and 4,300 groundcovers to be planted in the area surrounding a new wetland. A dedicated ‘biozone’ area will feature 2,400m2 of plantings across three distinct areas that will complement the remnant SA Blue Gum ecosystem at the reserve.

Native species will be used exclusively for all new plantings, 4,800 new ‘biozone’ plantings will be locally sourced and indigenous to the reserve. The wetland will benefit existing trees by removing the existing lake walls and feature over 10,000 new plants that will improve the quality of stormwater that enters Stonyfell Creek

Council is working closely with Kaurna Traditional Owners to monitor the construction and to develop opportunities for Kaurna heritage recognition such as public art, cultural sites and signage.

More information about the project, and more photos of the visit, can be found at https://engage.burnside.sa.gov.au/kensington-gardens-reserve-project

Kaurna representative Trevor ‘Boodgie’ Wanganeen

Kaurna Elder Aunty Lynette Crocker

When Burnside became the Municipality of Burnside on 16 May 1935, winemaking and olive oil production were important industries. A competition to design the Burnside City crest was won by Edward Murray Seymour in 1938. The final design was approved in 1939.

Two of Burnside's early industries are represented in the crest - a grape bunch depicts winemaking and a barrel and olive branches depict olive oil production. Another feature of the crest is the Glen Osmond Toll House, which was built in 1841 and closed in 1847. At the top is South Australia's emblem, the piping shrike.

This crest is now only applied to very formal documents presented by the Burnside Council.

Olive Growing

Burnside’s first olive truncheons were planted by Samuel Davenport in Beaumont after being imported from France in the 1840’s. Davenport took his knowledge and applied it to similar soil upon his arrival in South Australia in 1843.

About 25 years later, Beaumont became home to Australia’s first commercial olive oil production. ‘Sir Samuel Davenport’s Virgin Olive Oil’ was sold interstate and was included in many international exhibitions, winning medals in France and India.

In 1873 another olive plantation emerged as The Stonyfell Olive Company began business. The Stonyfell foothills plantation gradually increased in size to boast over 10,000 trees of over 15 varieties. Despite the demand for the plantations’ high quality oil in Australia and internationally, olive oil production was never very profitable. Eventually cheaper imported oils rendered the local plantations unprofitable and production ceased at Stonyfell in1958 and at Beaumont in 1962.

Penfolds Winery

Dr Christopher Rawson Penfold arrived in South Australia with his wife Mary in 1844. A practicing doctor, Dr Penfold had great faith in the curative properties of port.

Together they purchased 60 acres of land at Magill and built a stone cottage which they called “The Grange” (which is today one of Burnside's oldest buildings). They also planted cuttings from French and Spanish vines which they brought with them from England.

It was in fact Mary Penfold and her maid Ellen Timbrell who made the first Penfold wine. In the early days, production was restricted to wines of the port and sherry type, but as demand grew, other varieties were added.

The vineyards and wine making business also grew with the help of Penfold’s son- in-law Thomas Hyland, who married their daughter Georgina. In 1881, the stock of wine at the Magill winery was 107,000 gallons, with two thirds being exported to other Australian states and also to New Zealand.

In 1950, the company made the historic decision to focus on table wines. Shortly after, two of Australia's finest red wines were developed at Magill, namely Grange Hermitage and St Henri Claret. Today all Penfolds Grange vintages are collector’s items.

In the 1980’s most of the land was subdivided for housing. A small vineyard, the cottage and the winery buildings were retained.

The Magill Estate Shiraz is still made entirely from the grapes of this vineyard. The remaining five hectares of vines are almost surrounded by suburbia, providing a unique setting for the Magill Estate Restaurant that opened in 1995.

Glen Osmond Toll House

Constructed in 1841 as a toll keeper’s quarters, the Glen Osmond Toll House is one of the state’s oldest buildings. It was built to enable a cash strapped government to collect fees to help finance the construction of the Great Eastern Road, the main route to the eastern colonies. This was, and still is, the only toll road to have ever been built in South Australia.

The amount of the toll depended on the type of vehicle or animal travelling on the road, with common charges being one shilling for a one horse coach, sixpence for every ridden horse and three shillings for a carriage drawn by six or more horses.

Exemptions included the Governor’s horses and “persons traveling to divine service on Sunday.”

Not surprisingly, the tolls were unpopular and inefficient, as travellers became adept at bypassing this section of road.

In 1847 politician Sir Samuel Davenport successfully moved for the abolishment of the toll and the building became obsolete. The small hexagonal stone building still stands in its original position, now in the middle of a multi-lane highway.

The single toll gate used to block the road was recovered and restored in the early 1950’s, and now stands on a grassed area near the toll house.